How Mobile Apps and Information Technology Affect Healthcare

The world is changing day by day. Things that are normal today may be out of date for tomorrow. Sometimes it is hard to keep the pace of dramatic changes. Either way, we already live in a world of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, mobile apps, and IT.

With past-year global changes, informational technologies have become vital in healthcare. The healthcare transformation has become a necessity, and the sphere started developing. 

Personal healthcare apps are meant to improve the quality of life.

What is the future of the mobile health market (mHealth market)? 

According to Market Data Forecast, the mHealth market will reach $115,61 billion by 2025. For 2020, it was valued at $25,17 billion with a 35,65% CAGR for this period. With the forecasts, the mHealth market tends to become an attractive field for investments. The rise of the market value comes with smartphone usage and the awareness of mHealth benefits. Additionally, the lifestyle changes will further bring to the popularity of mHealth. 

How mobile technology improves healthcare?

The impact of digitization of medical services on healthcare is revolutionary and life-saving. Statistics revealing personal healthcare apps will help you see the full picture.

• 84% of healthcare providers prove mobile apps are beneficial for post-hospital patient support.
• 75% of ER visits can be handled via telemedicine.
• 93% of health care professionals already prove mHealth applications save lives.
• 61% of smartphone users already have installed health-related apps that gather health information. 
• 43% of users worldwide wear devices to track the physical condition and activity.
  

Why it matters

The rhythm of life is so rapid we can no longer spend precious moments on paperwork. And what is the healthcare system if not tons of paper with a medical history and all kinds of data about patients? With the development of cloud computing and storage capacities, hospitals may end paperwork. Still, we are considering the one side of the coin. The medical service had automated documentation long before the era of mobile apps. One-sided digital transformation could not bring to development, so it needed patient integration.

Patient engagement

A functional medical app collects and analyzes data and sends alerts to medical services. Wearables and mobile apps help the users track health data and always be aware of changes.‍

Attracting new patients 

Mobile technology came to solve one of the urging problems of healthcare. mHealth managed to unload hospitals and professionals. By transforming non-emergency patients into virtual ones, the doctors now have 50% higher performance. 

The active users of fitness and health tracking apps are more likely to switch to medical apps. The practice of tracking health data is the first step of developing healthy habits. Even those users who have no serious health issues will start using mHealth. ‍

Patient outreach outside the exam room and post-hospital support

‍Before mHealth, the only way to reach patients after leaving the hospital was to call them on the phone. It needed extra time and extra paperwork to fill in health data. Today with a health app, it is possible to track a patient’s health data even if he is a thousand miles away. The non-stop biometric data collection and regular consultations reduce the visits to doctors by 50%.‍

The triangle of three C-s; Connection, Communication, Care

Mobile technology is a powerful tool that enables patient care even without direct interaction. Any interaction with a patient is saved in his history and accessed anytime needed. Telemedicine apps make it possible to connect, communicate and carry out consultations.‍

Cost reduction

Medical services using mobile technology already prove to have a stable cost-saving tendency. By replacing hospital visits with mHealth, the system will be able to maintain a large number of patients. The innovation will also reduce the average hospital stay. Mobile technology also minimized charges per patient and decreased hospitalization days by half. ‍

What functionality delivers a personal healthcare app?

Medical apps are not a basic data storage application but a complicated mechanism. They are meant to deliver functionality to both patients and doctors.

• Information management
• Schedule appointments
• Health Record Access and Maintenance
• Communications
• Information gathering
• Clinical decision-making
• Patient Monitoring

mHealth improves communication between patients and health care providers 

The communication problem between the patients and doctors often brings to serious issues. Most times, the patients forget the doctor’s advice as soon as they leave the room. With medical health apps, patients are now more confident to have support any time needed. Streamlined and continuous communication replaces face-to-face meetings and, thus, saves time and resources. 

Mobile health technologies reduce readmission

Healthcare is continuous, and it doesn’t stop even when the patients leave the hospital. Mobile technology is more than an option to provide close communication. It is the solution to help reduce readmissions. With efficient readmission reduction strategies, it is possible to reach significant results.

mHealth for discharge communication. Support through the app after discharge may significantly lower the chances of readmission.

Improved prescription adherence. Repeated alerts, prescription reminders, and messages from healthcare providers reduce patient readmission.

Telemedicine to reduce readmission. Communication and monitoring of patient data increase the sense of personal control. Doctor-patient control results in positive health outcomes. By using fewer resources and minimal time, both parties may achieve significant results.

What new medical applications are relevant in 2021

mHealth skyrocketed amid the 2020 pandemic. The global healthcare crisis revealed all the gaps and stationary health services’ disadvantages. Patients and health systems turned to digital technologies to speed up service delivery.

What trending technologies are used for mHealth?

The modern technology trends open up broad horizons to build problem-solving applications.

Telemedicine

Starting with the coronavirus outbreak, telemedicine apps became vital. They carried out remote consulting and monitoring services for patients. Thus, telemedicine apps replace face-to-face doctor’s consultations for non-emergency cases. Telemedicine solved two core problems. It provided in-distance performing health care and alleviated the already overloaded healthcare system. With positive experience and growing popularity, telemedicine software development services will continue to be trending.

Blockchain

Blockchain technology is used to track records of transactions. Now it may be used in mHealth to collect medical history and store encrypted records.

The Internet of Things

IoT connects devices, applications, and software and ensures easy access across platforms. This technology is vital for health apps to ensure monitoring of patient progress.

Big Data Analytics

To provide continuous operation of data, the application should process large information flow. Big data analytics is to replace all the paperwork carried out by medical services.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Artificial Intelligence was integrated into mHealth as the means to detect pandemics. One of the ways of using AI is scanning big data worldwide to identify dangerous outbreaks. AI is also used to carry out thermal screening in a crowd at one time and identify those with high temperatures. For personal health apps, AI may become the most accurate means of analysis and diagnosis. Machine learning is already used in chatbot technology. It is a major feature providing doctor-patient communication. The future of mHealth is behind AI, machine learning, and data science.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

The integration of AR/VR in mHealth creates an interactive platform for educational purposes. By further development of AR/VR, we will soon have new technologies in robotic surgeries.

What to look for when creating a mHealth app in 2021

The more advanced are mobile technologies, the more functionality we are looking for. There are must-have features for the medical app that delivers high-accuracy in performance. Regardless of its type, some features should be part of the app’s functionality.

To get more insights into health app tendencies, check out the Healthcare Mobile App Development guide.

Real-time monitoring and updating

The idea of a medical app is to provide continuous monitoring and up-to-date health data. That is, the main feature is to add real-time data updates and analytics.

Cross-platform accessibility

The application should be available on Android and iOS devices and give wider access to users. The benefits of cross-platform accessibility are the high selling points of the app.

Offline Mode

Being always connected is the new normal. Still, there are cases when there is no connection, and half of your apps become useless. The app should have an offline mode to make it functional even in an emergency,

Progress tracking

By tracking biometrics data, it is possible to get a more precise picture of dynamic changes. Real-time updates and backup are part of creating a patient’s medical history.

Communication

Live chat is the best means to set loyalty between the doctor and the patient. Thus, the patient will feel safe with an option to talk to his doctor.

Push notifications and smart alerts

Scheduled appointments, prescription reminders, dangerous deviations should be followed with notifications and alerts.

Payment integration

The integration of different payment systems enables processing bills for doctor appointments.

3rd party integration

Health and fitness devices, smartwatches, and smart scales are of great popularity. The option to integrate those devices is another attractive feature for users. Moreover, the integration of top popular apps Google Fit, Apple Health, and Samsung Health will attract a new consumer market.